We've taken down the "under construction" signs on Manifestogames.com. Please come, use site, and tell us about any problems you encounter (preferably in the forums area rather than here).

We're not launching formally--consider this a beta. And thanks in advance.
posted by Greg at 1:29 PM 9 comments

So I've probably been remiss at not posting previously about Microsoft's announcement that it will now license to you--to you, not to EA--the software that allows you to create games for Xbox 360!!!!!!

Yes, all those exclamation points are satirical.

What the announcement means is that by paying Microsoft $99 (per year), they will give you the software to allow you to write a game for Xbox Live Arena, and put your game up in a special area for lame, amateur games that they host. But under no circumstances may you charge for it.

Of course, if huge numbers of people love it, then maybe Microsoft will deign to notice, and graciously offer you a contract, on terms they devise, to carry you on Xbox Live Arena for a -charge-. Some portion of which they may, should they so choose, pass on to you.

Now, let's parse this.

Microsoft, like all console manufacturers, completely controls access to their console, and to their customers. They prohibit you from ever, under any circumstances, creating a commercial product for their device.

But now, for the first time (well, since Sega's Net Yaroze), they have allowed you to create freeware for their device!

Whoop ti fuckin doo.

You have been able to create freeware for PCs, Macs, Linux devices, Amigas, Java-enabled phones, Series 60 devices and (I imagine) your HEPA filter forever. But now we are supposed to rejoice that you can create freeware for Xbox?

Today, this very instant, you can embark upon the creation of your own -commercial- game. Oh, you can do a freeware game if you like, and good for you if you do. But few of us are rich, and would like to be able to make enough money to pay for the development of the next game--and if we are independent developers, and keep our costs under control, just maybe we can do so, if we can attract a few thousand or tens of thousands of buyers. That is, on open platforms, we can do so. Or at least hope to do so.

If Microsoft was serious, they wouldn't be restricting things in this way. They'd be saying: Create what you like! And charge what you like! It all supports our hardware!

But they want to earn money off your software. They don't want you to earn dime one, unless they get their cut. So non-commercial use only. Unless they decide they like you.

Now, I understand the financial issues behind this. Consoles are sold at a loss, in the expectation of platform royalties to come. And they don't want to enable anyone to make money off their platform unless they get a cut. But the kudos and back-slapping they've got as a result of this initiative are ridiculous. The reality remains:

Microsoft is the gatekeeper.

Microsoft decides whether you may charge.

Microsoft has your nuts in their fist when it comes time to negotiate.

Microsoft profits.

Developers? Heh. Welcome to a world of pain.

Now, I don't want to be accused of having it in for Microsoft; in some ways, I do, but in other ways, they're the underdog in this industry, and I root for them. Nintendo is the company that established the business terms and conditions under which this industry operates, and they are the villains. Except, of course, they they're the ones trying to push innovation, which we sorely need.

Confusing, innit?

Here's the reality:

If you want to make any kind of living as an independent developer, you must develop for open platforms. That means the PC. Mac, maybe. Linux, an afterthought. And as of this initiative, maybe kinda sorta Xbox, because maybe if Microsoft takes pity on you, you might sell something via Xbox Live Arcade, after you already get a million downloads on their free service, having already paid them $99 for the privilege of accessing it.

I love consoles. I love the ease of use; I love popping a disc into the system and starting the thing up, and not having to worry about an install process or my hardware configuration. I love sitting on my couch and leaning back, instead of in my desk chair. I love the interface simplicity that's forced on designers by the relatively simple configuration of a console controller.

But I loathe the business conditions under which console manufacturers require developers to labor; I loathe having yet another gatekeeper between me and the consumer; and I particularly loathe having even less say over how I and the consumer interact.

I might feel better if Xbox Live Arena were a more sophisticated etail environment. It sucks. It's based on the best-seller list. Amazon has a million views into content; Arena has one. This simply recreates the "short tail" phenomenon in what ought to be a "long tail" environment.

Screw 'em.
posted by Greg at 10:57 PM 6 comments

Hugh Hancock, one of the pioneers of machinima, maintainer of machinima.org, about whose work I have previously posted, was all set to show Bloodspell, his first feature-length machinima production (years in the making, produced largely with volunteer labor, and released under a Creative Commons license--these Scotsmen are mad) at the Leipzig Games Conference--globally, the largest game conference that admits actual gamers.

Now, Germany--having rejected its authoritarian history with considerable embarassment and embraced liberal democracy--has a long tradition of making clear its embrace of liberal democracy and the principle of innate human rights like free speech, through censorship of games. Swastikas? Banned. Gore? Banned. It is very common for game developers to have a separate build for Germany in which the gore is minimized. IIRC, in Myth, Bungie handled the problem by turning the gore from red to green.

Bloodspell is apparently too violent. Scotsmen not wanted.

I very much doubt that Reservoir Dogs is banned in Germany. But if it's made with a game engine, that's different?

Well, yes, it is different: Rather than containing filmed, cinematic depictions of horribly depraved and apalling acts, it contains 3D animated depictions of (less) horribly depraved and apalling acts. Surely animation distances you somewhat from the depiction, yes? And that the closer to cinematic realism, the more horrific?

In other words, this makes no sense.

It's good to know Americans don't have a monopoly on cretinous lunacy.

Update: Hugh reports "The GC has backed down, and we're showing BloodSpell tomorrow at their press day." Yeah!
posted by Greg at 6:53 PM 6 comments

Following various links, I found something, I don't even know on who's blog, that enthusiastically directed me to Woot. Don't bother clicking; it's lame.

I clicked, of course, because Woot is gamerspeak. To my dismay, however, it was a site selling complete crap you don't need. Today's gizmo: a powered salad spinner.

Now let us parse this: They wish you to spend money in order to purchase an item consisting of plastics (extracted from hydrocarbons) and an electric motor (chiefly metal, manufactured with ores extracted by levelling mountains, spewing global warming gasses into the atmosphere, ut sequelae) so that, when you choose to make a salad, you may plug the thing in, and consume more power produced by coal-burning fire plants half a continent away (thereby contributing further to global warming).

Me, I'm just in the business of shipping you bits (over a network powered by electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, and so on--but at least it's all virtual).

But you know, I've never understood the appeal of salad spinners, whether powered or hand-cranked. Partly this is because I live in a cramped New York apartment, and I really don't have the space for another wholly absurd kitchen gadget; but also because I find the basic idea pernicious.

Here's how I deal with lettuce: I break the head apart into individual leafs, and I run each briefly under the sink (not so briefly in the case of Boston lettuce, which has a tendency to retain grit), and then I wave it about, propelling the bulk of what water remains on the leaf into the air, occasionally to the dismay of my cats.

Depending on the nature of the salad, the leaf is then either torn into shreds and tossed into a bowl, or thrown onto a cutting board and whacked into pieces with a large knife, then transferred to the bowl.

Inevitably, some small portion of water winds up in the salad and (gasp) somewhat dilutes the salad dressing. Oh no!

Salad spinners are idiotic. Motorized salad spinners are both idiotic and criminal. Mon dieu! Was it even possible to make a salad before electricity?

Idiots.

Here, then, is the secret to making a Caesar salad: raw egg.

This is, in fact, why it is now essentially impossible to obtain a decent Caesar in any restaurant in these benighted States; they are afraid of the potential legal liability if you should come down with salmonella upon eating raw egg (a highly unlikely eventuality). They're all these dainty, tasteless little things with a faint lemon vinaigrette and a dusting of parmesan on top of Romaine. Curse their cowardly souls.

I will teach you how to make a Caesar like a man. Like Julius himself would, if he had had the benefit of tasting such a thing, which doubtless he did not. Not that his manly manliness isn't open to question, of course. Despite his Hemingwayesque prose style, old Julius Gaius was, shall we say, a Hellenophile, and his sexual habits on campaign may not have been all that different from that of our old friend T.E. Lawrence.

Not that a man who prefers the companionship of other men may not make a damned good Caesar, so long as he eschews effiminacy in cooking, regardless of his preference in sexual relations.

But I have digressed from the main and ineluctable point of this post (which, you may well comclude, has not a damn thing to do with games, and well you may; and what of it, say I? Is it not my blog?) long enough. Forthwith, obtain:

A head of Romaine lettuce, approx. 1 lb in weight.
Four large eggs
A can of anchovies
apprx. 3 oz Parmesan cheese (Romano is an adequate substitute)
one large lemon
une baguette
more olive oil than you'd care to contemplate
several cloves garlic
large pinch oregano
salt & pepper to taste
optionally: one large boneless chicken breast

1. Set a small pot boiling.
2. If using the chicken, set a grill going (charcoal is lovely, gas will do, alternatively a cast-iron skillet is fine).
3. Set a cast-iron skillet over a flame, low-medium heat. When quite hot, add 1/4 cup olive oil.
4. Place three eggs carefuly in the boiling pot; lower them in with a tablespoon, being careful not to crack the shells as you do. Set the kitchen timer for 12 minutes.
5. Smash 4 large or 8 small (or some mixture) cloves of garlic with the side of a large knife, and peel off the skin. Throw the peeled and smashed (but not chopped) garlic into the oil; toss, to make the oil garlicky.
6. Cut part of the baguette into roughly 20 3/4 inch bread cubes. Throw them into the skillet. Toss, to coat with oil. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and continue to toss from time to time over the next 10 minutes. After a bit, strew with the oregano, and a bit of salt and pepper, tossing again to cover When you fear that they may start to burn (but not before), turn the skillet off, toss, move to a cool burner, and let sit while you finish your other preparations
7. After the bread cubes are in the pan, salt and pepper the chicken, and throw it onto the grill (or in the pan). Cook for (if thin) 5 minutes or (if thick) 7 minutes on a site. After the indicated time, slice through the middle and make sure there is no pink. If there is, cook for another few minutes on each side, and when done, lift off to the cutting board.
8. When 12 minutes have transpired, remove the eggs from the stove, and run under cold water. Very likely, your bread cubes (croutons, now) are done at the same time, or roughly so. And quite possibly your chicken is either done, or close to.
9. Squeeze the lemon into a bowl; if not using a lemon squeezer, carefully remove the lemon seeds with a spoon, and discard. Break a raw egg into the lemon juice; beat the two together.
10. Smash, remove the skin of, and chop at least two large cloves of garlic (and possibly more if you like garlic). Mix them into the egg-and-lemon.
11. Open the can of anchovies, drain, chop briefly, and add them to the mixture.
12. Add several grinds of pepper, then beat briefly with a fork. Slowly add olive oil, beating continuously with a fork as you do. Your objective is to double the amount of liquid in the bowl, and to ensure that the oil is beaten well into the mixture so that there are no distinct and separate globules of oil there. This should not be a problem, if you beat vigorously. (Google "proteins denatured mayonaise" if you doubt me.) Taste, add more oil if necessary (e.g., if it is too tart).
13. Rinse the head of Romaine, taking care to part the leaves under the water, but without removing them from the head. Take the whole damn thing and flounce about with it, distributing water droplets gaily about your kitchen (it will dry, for god's sake, what are you worried about)? Hurl it onto your cutting board, and whack it into 1" pieces, tossing the base of the head into the garbage. Then turn your knife at 90 degrees and whack at it a bit more, so you have (more or less) squares of lettice. Throw these into the largest bowl you possess.
14. Grate at least a half cup, and preferably a cup or more, of the parmesan into the same bowl. The more the better. Well, the tastier; we are not after health, here. Toss the greens and cheese.
15. Pour the dressing on top, and toss vigorously. Pick up the bits that fall on the floor and put them back into the bowl. They are too good to waste, and fuck the germ theory of disease.
16. Pick the croutons out of the pan--basically, you don't want the now-browned bits of garlic there, so you can't just scrape the thing into the salad--and add them. Toss some more.
17. Slice the chicken breast into 1/4" slices; cut all lengthwise in half. Throw them into the salad on top--I don't toss at this point.
18. Peel the hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters, and arrange around the periphery of the bowl.
19. Stick in serving utensils, and serve, along with the rest of the baguette and some butter.

Disclaimer: By making this recipe in accordance with these instructions, you Agree to abide by the terms hereby. In no event will author be liable to You or to any third party for any lost profits, lost data, interruption of business, or other special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind arising out any attack of salmonella, or any other illness or incapacity produced thereby. In no event shall the liability of author exceed the amount received by him from you under this Agreement (i.e., zero). In jurisdictions that do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential, special, or incidental damages, author's liability under this Agreement shall be limited to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

God, I hate lawyers. (Well, not you, Dad.).

But I guarantee... You make a Caesar like this, and you will understand how our legal system imposes costs we barely recognize on society.

A Caesar salad without raw egg does not deserve the name.
posted by Greg at 10:58 PM 7 comments

Woah. It had completely missed the announcement that Viacom bought Atom Entertainment last Wednesday, until Sean Ryan posted about it. Why is it that none of the game news sites picked up on this?

Atom Entertainment was was formed in 2001 with the merger of Atom Films and Shockwave.com. Atom Films was a highly-touted dot boom company that was going to build the future of film on the Internet with short clips--a stupid business idea at a stupid time (yes, let's take on high bandwidth charges in return for essentially no reveue!), and the merger with Shockwave.com gave it at least something plausible.

Shockwave.com was an even odder duck--original built by Macromedia (the creators of the Shockwave plug-in, and now part of Adobe) as a place for people to find things to play with their Shockwave plug-ins, it was spun off in the dot-boom era as a separate company, and despite the name, hasn't had anything to do with Macromedia for years--and indeed, much of the stuff it offers no longer requires Shockwave (or even Flash).

Now, maybe the purchase was motivated by the burgeoning popularity of YouTube (and--explain to me their business model again?), because Atom Entertainment includes (the still lame) AtomFilms, and Viacom being a media company, naturally journalists will look at the film side. But actually, Atom gets vastly more traffic and revenue from Shockwave.com and AddictingGames than they do from AtomFilms and AddictingClips:

Alexa Page Rank (8/13/06)

shockwave.com: 763
addictinggames.com: 1,293
atomfilms.com: 6,386
Addictingclips.com: 7,450

In other words, Atom Entertainment may have some minor online video assets, but first and foremost, it is one of the largest distributors of downloadable casual games in the world. I'm not connected enough in the casual market to know exactly how large, but my guess would be #3 after Yahoo! Games and RealArcade.

Thus: Viacom is now one of the biggest players in the casual game market.

What's interesting about this is that Viacom, like most of the big media companies, has steered away from games after the failure of their 'new media' divisions' forays into the market (Viacom Interactive's dramatic failure in the 90s, and Simon & Schuster Interactive's slow death in the early oughts). That is, Sumner Redstone has a big personal investment in Midway, but Viacom corporately has chosen not to make bets in the (conventional) game industry.

The casual game market may be an easier sell to a corporate board; it's fast growing (while conventional game industry sales are down), and it reaches an audience that's a closer approximation of the overall national demographic, meaning it's also one Viacom understands how to market to.

And--please note that the purchase is via MTV Networks Digital, the online side of MTV, which is, of course, a Viacom subsidiary. MTV.com has a games component, and MTV has been involved recently in co-promoting high-profile titles like Guitar Hero--initiatives spearheaded by Dan Hart, who is in charge of games for MTV Networks Digital--and was formerly in charge of Yahoo! Games. A veteran, in other words, of the casual games explosion.

So another way to look about this is that while the conventional game publishers are still debating whether or not electronic software distribution is the future and trying to figure out how to make it work, the major media companies have already decided that it is, and are placing their bets--Time Warner through Gametap (a subsidiary of subsidiary Turner), and now Viacom with Shockwave.com....

All very interesting.

And why has the game press missed this story?
posted by Greg at 2:01 PM 5 comments

No technological glitch could lure people from what is the heart of video games: a good gameplay.

...as the Fast Lane Carnage manual says. Mais oui, Comrade Millet.

From this, you may conclude the developer's English is not so good--and also, to be sure, that the aesthetic of the game is one that Manifestoites will find wholly sympathetic. But for all that--this is a very French game.

Not French as in the France of the Guide Michelin, the Rive Gauche, or Jacques Chirac. Rather, the France of Mobius, Metal Hurlant and the bandes dessinee, the gritty, adult French comics that are as alien to the American form as Japanese manga; of the bizarre Franco-Algerian slang of the French underworld; of the polar noir, movies even bleaker and more brutal than their American counterparts.

Fast Lane Carnage can be described as a collision between Car Wars, Quake, and Bladerunner. In a bleak future where the rich live in fortified compounds and the vast bulk of society is left to rot in polluted slums, one of the few routes out of poverty to participate in car races where the vehicles are heavily armed, and the race's winner is as likely to be the best shot as the best driver. As in most driving games, success unlocks new tracks--but in addition, surviving (or better yet winning) a race earns you cash, which you can use to upgrade your car and your living quarters.

In short, this is a game in which you drive armed and armored cars and blow crap out of others while speeding around a race track. In addition to a soloplay campaign, it supports online play (via LAN or Internet)--and indeed, the multiplayer game is where it shines.

The Developer Says:
Fast Lane Carnage is a non-stop action game, an improbable cross-over between Micromachines and Quake in a Mad Max world. When you have enough of the tough single player experience, get the old-school Quake action feeling going with your friends (or enemies).

"2021. Fast Lane Carnage takes place in the shallows of the metropolis, where wealth is out of reach, where police don'?t come anymore. Even the cleaners don'?t dare coming. Most of the people, excluded from the corporate system, live off the wastes and robbery of the society. Drugs rule the streets, and all the solutions are imagined for one purpose: gaining money."

Genre : Quake Rally

Multiplayer : LAN / Internet - 4 players

It's better to experience a few hours of non-stop action with a tough ending and be motivated to start the whole thing again than to be bored to death by an intricate 60-hours gaming experience.

Reviews

"Viel Gas, viel Spaß. Die Entwickler versprechen einfache und effiziente Spiele, die von Anfang an Spaß machen und ich denke, das ist auch gelungen."
   - DLH.net

"Unbeschwertes Gameplay für zwischendurch, Soundtrack von Aggro Berlin, im Multiplayer durchaus lustig."
   - Gamezone.de
posted by Greg at 1:45 AM 6 comments

I imagine Johnny's not going to comment on this, as it would probably sound to much like sour grapes coming from him. So I will instead.

I first subscribed to Computer Gaming World in 1983, back when I got my Apple II (with CPM card, so I could play CPM games as well). Back then, I doubt they had 10,000 subscribers, a tenth or less of The Dragon's, and maybe a hundredth that of Games magazine. The market for microcomputer (as we then called them) games was small—we bought them at software outlets, typically in plastic bags that contained a floppy disc and a small booklet. (And that isn't truly old school—we'd already graduated from games on cassette tape.)

CGW was great. It was a magazine for fanatical fans of an obscure form of new media, written by fanatical fans. And it contained not only articles by gamers, but occasional pieces by creators too. Indeed, my first contact with Johnny was as the writer of a letter to the editor, complaining that Jon Freeman's article about how developers should stop doing clones of successful arcade games was noticeably unconvincing, since Freeman was the developer of Crush, Crumble & Chomp—a game that was very little more than a digital version of my boardgame, The Creature That Ate Sheboygan. The pot calling the kettle, and so on.

CGW not only survived the crash of 83, it grew subsequently, as computer games became the only form of digital gaming in the US—until Nintendo brought about the console revival, of course. Circulation burgeoned, and the publication became more professional (and less heartfelt and fannish) over time, but the quality of the writing, and the love of the field, still came through in every issue. And with columnists like Scorpia and The Armchair General, you had comfortable, familiar voices you could trust to give you the real skinny, an educated and experienced look into new products in the genres they covered.

For almost two decades, CGW was (in my estimation, at least) the single most intelligent critical view into the world of computer games, on a plane far above its competition.(A position now held, of course, by The Escapist.)

Of course, as Barnum said, “Never underestimate the intelligence of the American public;” the single most intelligent and critical view of computer games was never fated, surely, to be the best-selling magazine about computer games. PC Games quickly seized that role. And after Ziff Davis took over CGW, they began to chafe about their number two position. Ultimately, they forced Johnny out as editor—a move that, in itself, I do not blame them for: clearly, under Johnny, the magazine was what it was, and was never going to seriously challenge PC Games for its throne.

What I do blame Ziff for, however, is the sequelae; essentially, they turned CGW into an inferior imitation of PC Games, with a lickspittle attitude toward the publishers, a desperate and ill-fated attempt to be fanboy hip, and a tolerance of sheer bad writing. Never mind the obvious fact if you are #2 and wish to become #1, you will never do so by imitating #1; instead, you must do something else, and something clearly superior.

CGW has chundered along since then, under lackadaisical management, its editorial content hard to distinguish from that of PC Gamer, and its intelligence and perceptible love of PC gaming clearly inferior to that offered by the hard-fighting and perennial third, Computer Games (a magazine with its own bizarre and interesting history I don't propose to delve into here). And like all of the PC game magazines, its circulation and relevance has declined with the spread and success of game news-and-reviews sites, which provide far more timely (if equally jejune) content.

Leading ultimately, and futilely, and depressingly, to Ziff's recent decision to toss away more than two decades of proud history, and shut down CGW—-replacing it with the Ganes for Windows Magazine

Microsoft, you understand, is launching “Games for Windows” as a 'new thing' they intend to promote and throw money at—trying to reverse the slide in sales of PC gaming, and reinforce virtually the only competitive advantage that Windows retains over the Mac and Linux. (I, for one, am ready to convert to desktop Linux tomorrow—Open Office works a charm, and the only thing that stops me is that I'm a gamer, and there's shit all games for Linux.)

So Ziff is hoping to piggy-back on Microsoft's marketing spend, in essence, and maybe finally crack PC Games's pole position. Not that they now or ever did give a crap about games in se.

Well, best of luck, I suppose; and I can't be too depressed at the loss of the current incarnation of CGW. But still, something once fine has been whittled away into a piece of crap, and this new initiative seems highly unlikely to produce anything but a slightly different piece of crap.

To be sure, all gaming magazines are doomed, so long as they continue to concentrate on “timely” information like reviews and strategy articles. That kind of stuff works much better on the Web. If there's a future for print media that covers digital games, it's in glossy, specialty press items that concentrate on interesting thought pieces that are more timeless in nature.

Like, say, The Escapist.

Hm. Maybe they should be doing print quarterlies, or somesuch.
posted by Greg at 10:29 PM 8 comments

As I said when I posted the text on Football Deluxe, since my writing time is mostly spent on the site at the moment, I'd post here occasional bits I've written for it... Hence:

====

Homage to Galagalonia

As George Orwell might have said but did not:

"What joy it was to be there in 1981, with the Revolution yet young! When one came straight from England the aspect of the arcade was bracing and startling. Attendants and gamers looked at you in the face and treated you as an equal. Nobody said 'Senor' or 'Don' or even 'Usted'; everyone called everyone 'Comrade' and 'Thou,' and said 'Salud!' instead of 'Buenos dias'. From every machine blared the sounds and sights of this new revolution. I had come with some notion of writing newspaper articles, but I had joined the game at once because in that atmosphere it seemed the only thing to do. Our training was cursory, almost comical in its ineptness, but soon I found myself on the front, commanding a small craft against the Fascist alien onslaught..."

If people were still refining and developing Galaga today, what you'd get would look a whole lot like Warblade, a one-man project from Edgar Vigdal in Norway. As you'd expect you pilot a small ship that slides left-right across the bottom of the screen as wave after wave of invaders attack, with all kinds of enemies, bosses, weapons, powerups, and 100 levels in all.

The Developer Says

Warblade is an arcade shoot'em up game. It is a PC remake of an old Amiga game that I made. It was called Deluxe Galaga. Deluxe Galaga may look a little bit like the old arcade game Galaga, and have some game features that can resemble Galaga. But as I had never played Galaga (the arcade version) when I made Deluxe Galaga, it is mostly made up of my own ideas and designs (with a lot of help and useful tips from the users of DG).

Reviews

"Warblade is Galaga brought into the twenty-first century. The basic game has been polished and redesigned until it shines like a golden nugget sparkling in a river bed."
   - Bytten

"From Norway comes an outstanding 2D shooter..."
   - Adrenalin Vault
posted by Greg at 6:51 PM 7 comments

As readers know, I hate E3. The question, I suppose, is whether I will still hate E3 when it's reformatted as the ESA is now proposing.

Mike Antonucci talks about the changes after a conversation with Doug Lowenstein.

The basic problem with E3 (and in fact virtually all trade shows) is that their original rationale for existence is gone. Trade shows originated as a way for manufacturers to reach retailers, in an era where chain stores basically did not exist, independent department stores were the largest accounts, and companies typically sold to hundreds or thousands of different retailers. You expected to actually write orders over the counter at trade shows, and they were very important to the bottom line.

Today, retail in the US has consolidated so dramatically that, in our industry, there are really only a half dozen accounts that matter, and publishers are in touch with those accounts on a monthly basis anyway. E3, in particular, has turned from a retail event to a press event, its primary purpose to grab the attention of journalists. It's artificial and incestuous; journalists cover E3 because it's E3, and companies feel compelled to attend E3 because if they don't the automatic question is whether they are on their last legs or dying, and huge amounts of money are spent on displays the original purpose of which was to attract retail buyers who no longer exist. Really, there's no reason the larger companies can't just run their own PR events, at considerably lower cost.

Hence these changes, clearly made at the behest of the ESA's members (the orgnization consists of all the large publishers in North America, basically). They don't want the expense, but they still want the press exposure. So they want to get rid of the show floor and just take space for their press announcements. And set up the usual behind-closed-doors meetings with journos.

All fine and good, but of course, the effect for everyone who isn't an ESA member means they will now have less exposure. At the old E3, if you were a small publisher or developer, you could at least get a cheap booth in Kentia Hall, and with luck, a handful of dedicated journalists would at least wander past and maybe talk to you. As currently proposed, the new E3 essentially makes it impossible for smaller companies to get any kind of attention. Which of course is in the ESA's best interests, since they'd much rather have a oligopoly on attention, but certainly not in the best interest of those of us who'd rather try to crack open that oligopoly.

So I predict that E3 will be less annoying--but also less useful for anyone who isn't an ESA member.

If it were up to me, I'd rather go in the opposite direction--turn E3 into something more like GenCon or Leipzig. Throw the "trade only" restriction out the window, open it up to actual gamers, charge them enough to make big bux for the ESA, ramp up attendance from 40k to 100k plus, and make it an event where publishers market to consumers as well as the trade. E3 would probably become even more repulsive under this scenario--booth babes and headache-inducing music and light compounded--but it would be a nice money earner, and doubtless be wildly popular with gamers.
posted by Greg at 11:12 AM 8 comments